Commissioner Jim Delany appears to favor an increase, as do many athletic directors. Ohio State's Gene Smith told ESPN.com, "I would like to go to nine or 10."

The ADs will meet Sunday at conference headquarters in Park Ridge. The coaches will huddle Monday. These will be the first leaguewide, face-to-face meetings with representatives from Rutgers and Maryland, which will join the Big Ten in 2014.

Among the topics will be these: How many conference games should be played? Should conference play begin in mid-September as an alternative to dueling the likes of Charleston Southern and Eastern Kentucky?

What about new bowl tie-ins to combat fan travel fatigue? How will the 14 teams be divided? Or will it be 16 or 18 or 20? Will East and West replace Legends and Leaders?

On the topic of whether to add conference games, NU's Jim Phillips said he sees the "pluses and minuses" of keeping eight or adding a ninth or 10th. Here they are:

Pluses of 8: Allows teams to play up to eight home games — generating more revenue — and pad their records against weak nonconference foes. That maximizes the number of Big Ten teams that qualify for a bowl game. Every coach, it seems, prefers this.

Minuses of 8: Minnesota is so desperate to rack up wins that it canceled a home-and-home series with North Carolina. Over the next three years, the Gophers plan to play UNLV, Western Illinois, San Jose State (twice), Eastern Illinois, Middle Tennessee and South Dakota State. That's bad for fans, TV partners and the conference's image.

Pluses of 9: The 14-team schedule would yield 63 conference games, up from the current 48. That extra inventory would help Delany pull more cash from potential TV partners such as ESPN/ABC and Fox and enhance the Big Ten Network's schedule. The Big 12 and Pac-12 currently play nine conference games.

Minuses of 9: Half of the teams would host five games; the other half, four. Said Fitzgerald: "The stats show that around 70 percent of Big Ten games are won at home. I'd be against 4/5. To me as a coach, that doesn't make sense."

Pluses of 10: More compelling games and a truer champion. A better chance for a player from, say, Rutgers, to experience a game at Nebraska. Fewer seven-figure payouts to cupcake opponents.